www.gamingtavern.eu

[dr_mitch]

My latest reading is...

Redemption Ark (Alistair Reynolds)
I liked this- and at some point I'll definitely read the next book in the sequence. One small rant- there was too much technobabble. I don't care how a *fictional* device to reduce inertia works or enable FTL travel works. (or for that matter anything else that is impossible with our current understanding of science). This actually damaged the hard science fiction feel of the universe for me.

Serenity: Those Left Behind (Brett Matthews, Joss Whedon, Will Conrad)
Basically an episode of Firefly in comic form- set between the series and the film. Reads just like an average Firefly episode. Probably only worth it for completists.

Dracula Cha Cha Cha (Kim Newman)
Anno Dracula is an alternate history novel in Victorian London, based on Bram Stoker's Dracula novel- only Dracula won and lots of vampires came out of the woodwork. And it's fab.

Anyway, Dracula Cha Cha Cha the second sequel to Anno Dracula, and is set in 1950s Rome. Quite clever and full of references to both real and fictional characters of the period (for example, it stars a vampiric version of James Bond). Not quite as good as Anno Dracula, but still a good read.

The Curse of Chalion
A decent enough fantasy novel, but nothing particularly special. Maybe I'm going slightly off fantasy. Blatantly set in a fantasy version of early medieval Spain. That said, the invented religion was quite interesting, and absolutely central to the plot.
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Paul Mitchener

Maths Sensei

Author: Blood of the Gods (Wild Talents in Ancient Greece), Drowned Lands (in Adventures in Wordplay), Dragon City (in the OpenQuester).

[dr_mitch]

[Edit: Double post. I'm getting sloppy these days.]
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Paul Mitchener

Maths Sensei

Author: Blood of the Gods (Wild Talents in Ancient Greece), Drowned Lands (in Adventures in Wordplay), Dragon City (in the OpenQuester).

[dr_mitch]

More things I've read...

Glasshouse (Charles Stross). Not bad, but I was initially put off by the initial list of invented time measurements (and found it tedious when reading after a kilosecond or so), and the fact it was written in the present tense. But I got over these to find an enjoyable enough far future science fiction piece, albeit nothing very deep.

Unsees Academicals (Terry Pratchett). The main characters are the servants at Unseen University. I laughed out loud a couple of times. There were some darkish moments, but the ending was rather heartwarming. Absolutely classic Pratchett in other words. The book was more evenly written than his last couple, although nothing too surprising.

Sundiver (David Brin).
More SF, this time at a time when humanity is in contact with a galactic civilisation- and stands out by evolving to intelligence in its own right rather than being "uplifted" to sentience by another species. Anyway, there were some good ideas here, but the style was inconsistent, the mystery aspect of the book didn't quite work, and some concepts I'm rather unsure about. Basically, nothing that will make me rush out to look for the sequels.
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Paul Mitchener

Maths Sensei

Author: Blood of the Gods (Wild Talents in Ancient Greece), Drowned Lands (in Adventures in Wordplay), Dragon City (in the OpenQuester).

[Dom]

It's been a slow start to the year reading-wise, mainly as I've been working through a number of RPGs. However, yesterday, I found a delightful little shop in Harrogate (Destination Venus) that specialises in comics and graphic novels, and walked away with a small selection.

I started with some (new to me) parts of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, namely 1910 and The Black Dossier.

1910 was a very dark tale, laced with sex and violence. It's a short book, 80 pages, and didn't leave me feeling very satisfied. Visually, it's as good as the others in the series. There was just something about it that didn't engage me the way that it's predecessors did.

In contrast, The Black Dossier is a treat. Weighing in at two hundred pages it's a blend of traditional comic style with a lot of written prose set in the late 1950s. The prose is the 'black dossier' of the title, and the story follows Murray and Quatermain as they retrieve the dossier and read it and make their escape. It's very clever, and has shades of Bond, Dan Dare, The Third Man, 1984 and so on. Moore is superb at this point. However, once again it's quite explicit at a number of points, which almost detracts from the story. I really enjoyed it; if anything it lead me to re-skim 1910 again and I enjoyed that more as a result. It's very dark in contrast to LXG Vol 1 and Vol 2, but dark can be - and is - good!
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"We live in a nuclear powered universe. We're the oddballs by getting energy from burning carbon."
James Lovelock

[Kultist]

1910 did seem slight compared to Volumes 1 & 2, although I was very much under the impression that this was part 1 of three.
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O rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm,
That flies in the night, In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed of crimson joy,
And his dark secret love, Does thy life destroy.
[William Blake]

[dr_mitch]

Player of Games (Iain M Banks)
A reread from some years back. Anyway, a good read, perhaps predictable at times, but that's not a problem. It's also the easiest to get into of any of the Culture novels. I think I'd recommend anyone interested in the Culture books to start with this one.

Xenos (Dan Abnett)
I got this (and the other Eisenhorn books) as a Christmas present. I'm fairly ignorant about Warhammer 40K, but I've heard people who were thrilled by the background, and this seemed a decent place to find out more.

Anyway, I found this a huge struggle- it reads like game fiction (hardly a surprise, I suppose). Something like a Call of Cthulhu adventure (rather than a Lovecraft story) in space. Certainly gameable, but not something I found very readable or original.

I don't think I can be bothered to read the others.

Grave Peril (Jim Butcher)
The third of the Dresden Files novels, and the best I've read yet. I'm just about holding myself back from rushing out immediately to buy the next one, but it won't be too long before I give in to temptation.
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Paul Mitchener

Maths Sensei

Author: Blood of the Gods (Wild Talents in Ancient Greece), Drowned Lands (in Adventures in Wordplay), Dragon City (in the OpenQuester).

[dr_mitch]

Since last time...

Summer Knight (Jim Butcher)
Just as good as Grave Peril. Enough said.

The Fourth Hand (John Irving)
Not fantasy or science fiction, but I do have a soft spot for John Irving. Still, this one of his worst novels. I should have known really- it was a reread, but I wanted to give it another go.

Murder in the Dark (Margaret Atwood)
Again, neither fantasy nor science fiction- a series of one or two page vignettes. Oddly compelling.

There must be something I've missed out- well, I'm sure it will come back to me. At the moment, I'm rereading Ghost Story (Peter Straub)- something I read before about six years ago. It is still quite possibly the best horror story I've ever read (and one that left me very disappointed in Straub's other books, but that's another story)
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Paul Mitchener

Maths Sensei

Author: Blood of the Gods (Wild Talents in Ancient Greece), Drowned Lands (in Adventures in Wordplay), Dragon City (in the OpenQuester).

[dr_mitch]

Matter (Iain M Banks)
A Culture novel- and a good one- although the big events at the end totally overshadow the more local events, which is a pity. I can't say any more without major spoilers. Still, I enjoyed this. At the start it reminded me in some ways of Inversions- but was far more obviously a Culture book, with science fiction elements much more in the foreground.

Wolf in Shadow (David Gemmell)
A reread from about twenty years ago, this one. Anyway, it feels very very similar indeed to Stephen King's Dark Tower series- especially the main character. Not deep (though Gemmell possibly has some interesting things to say about evil people turning to good, and good people turning to evil), but certainly zips along at a fast pace. Basically, a fun light read. Time to seek out the sequels, I think.

Ringworld (Larry Niven)
Another reread of something I've entirely forgotten. Possibly necessary revision for the Diaspora game! I like the way the whole scale of the Ringworld is addressed, and the visitors are certainly a rather mixed crew. But overall the whole thing felt a little dated.
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Paul Mitchener

Maths Sensei

Author: Blood of the Gods (Wild Talents in Ancient Greece), Drowned Lands (in Adventures in Wordplay), Dragon City (in the OpenQuester).

[Dom]

Gemmell was a great author for page turning action which was great to read. And he wasn't wedded to trilogies which was even better. Shame he passed away.
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"We live in a nuclear powered universe. We're the oddballs by getting energy from burning carbon."
James Lovelock

[dpmcalister]

The Sharpe novels - currently mid-way through Sharpe's Fortress
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[dr_mitch]

[dr_mitch]

Morpho Eugenia (A.S. Byatt)
Not fantasy or science fiction, but I do sometimes quite like A.S. Byatt. Somehow, mundane things are seen in a slightly mythological sense. That said, this novella wasn't too great, and all of the interesting stuff was in the last twenty or so pages, and rushed by comparison with the overlong build-up.

Vacuum Diagrams (Stephen Baxter)
A short story collection, and one that plots out a big future history. Not bad, and quite easy reading most of the time, but too many of the stories are very similar to each-other.

Look to Windward (Iain M. Banks)
A reread of another Banks book I'd completely forgotten about- all I remember was not being very impressed with it. Reading it again, either my tastes have changed, but I was wrong. The ending is in some ways an anticlimax (I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler), but the important thing is the decisions the characters make rather than what comes out of these decisions. In the end, it was something quite beautiful. So I don't agree with my earlier self.
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Paul Mitchener

Maths Sensei

Author: Blood of the Gods (Wild Talents in Ancient Greece), Drowned Lands (in Adventures in Wordplay), Dragon City (in the OpenQuester).

[Dom]

The Courtyard and The Light of Thy Countenance, both graphic novels by Alan Moore. I enjoyed the former more than the latter, possibly because it reminds me of a Lovecraftian Delta Green scenario (which is basically is!). The latter is about society's worship of TV.

Strontium Dog 01 I bought the compiled first volume of this, and although it was a blast down memory lane to my days of taking 2000AD, I decided that it – and the RPG take – aren't for me. If anyone wants a read once good condition copy then please PM me!

Spook Country by William Gibson
I'd delayed getting this for some reason, but recently read the paper back. It's a thriller, and continues Gibson's slow move away from cyberpunk. There are still near future themes. I really enjoyed it.

Avilion by the late, great, Robert Holdstock
A return to the Mythago Wood universe. This is effectively the third directly linked book (after Mythago Wood and Lavondyss) and I really enjoyed it. Will pick up a copy when it comes out in paperback. Recommended, but read the others first!

Black Holes & Time Warps by Kip Thorne
Great book that looks at how the studies of Black Holes have developed from Einstein's original relativity work. Sadly, it ends in the early 90s, but I found it really useful for visualising a singularity and the effects around it. I'll let you guess the reason I'm reading this kind of book...

The Drowned World by JG Ballard
A book I revisited after more than two decades. It's quite short, but I was surprised just how the chapter titles (rather than the story itself) had stuck. It's an eco-apocalypse tale of rising seas and the effect upon people. It's not a great heroic tale and quite ambivalent, but interesting all the same. Good imagery, and I suspect the downbeat focus is the main reason it's not been filmed at some point.

Currently struggling with Neal Stephson's Anathem, the first two chapters of which haven't set the world alight for me.
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"We live in a nuclear powered universe. We're the oddballs by getting energy from burning carbon."
James Lovelock

[dr_mitch]

The Algebraist (Iain M. Banks)
I think I'd read this too recently to fully appreciate the reread. Not too sure about the story, but worldbuilding is excellent. As are the Dwellers.

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Primary Phase) (Douglas Adams)
Not the book- the radio show, which I've been listening to on the journey to work (and listening to things has temporarily distracted me from reading).

It's still good, and still funny, partially because of some of the imagery- "black bejewelled battle shorts" comes to mind.

The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Actually, I'm talking about the radio show here. Truer to the books than the films (which is mainly a strength)- very good, and in places excellent, though it does drop the ball in a couple of places (such as rushing over The Scouring of the Shire). Criticisms aside, when it had finished, I felt oddly bereft.

It felt very much like it was Gandalf's story- but that's largely how I've viewed The Lord of the Rings for a while.[/b]
_________________
Paul Mitchener

Maths Sensei

Author: Blood of the Gods (Wild Talents in Ancient Greece), Drowned Lands (in Adventures in Wordplay), Dragon City (in the OpenQuester).

[Herbert West]